Nadia Petrova’s new coach Ricardo Sanchez has got himself into a bit of trouble earlier this morning at the Toray Pan Pacific in Tokyo. In this story broken via dropshotdispatch and then picked up at deadspin, Sanchez came out on to the court to give offer advice to Nadia who was playing Sam Stosur in the semifinals. But during his visit Sanchez apparently forgot that under the allowances of on-court coaching, coaches are mic’d up.

What followed was a clear F-Bomb from Sanchez, but it’s intent remains uncertain. Was it, “we need to find out if we have luck in this f’ing bitch” or was it “we need to find out if we have luck against this f’ing bitch”. Or something else. It’s a big difference and without further explanation it’s hard to tell. But what isn’t is next time Sanchez comes out on the court he’ll likely be much more careful with his language.

After having a laugh once he realized he was mic’d up, Sanchez’s pottyish pep talked worked in the end. Petrova went on to beat Stosur 64, 62 to reach the final final where she’ll play Agnieszka Radwanska for the title tonight.

Scrappy match. But the right player won on the day, no doubt about that. Hard to imagine a more jekyll and hyde type character than Petrova. In the first set she was supreme, just didn’t give poor Radwanska a look in. And we saw why Petrova troubles Sharapova, looks much better than her, in fact. A much more natural serve (best on tour after Serena?), terrific volley, and solid ground strokes. But then she implodes, and lets people like Sharapova back in. Great fighting quality of Sharpie, we’re told. Rubbish. Sharpie doesn’t fight back against Serena, and that’s because Serena doesn’t let her. Petrova absolutely does. Radwanska didn’t fight back today particularly, although she did play better – it was all on Petrova’s racket. Petrova lives on her nerves, which is presumably why she gets so exhausted. Years off her life, I’d have thought.

Somehow, Petrova hung on in the 3rd, with the help of 2 double faults by Rad at exactly the wrong time. Odd – Radwanska closed out the 2nd set with 3 aces on the trot. Beautifully placed, and she’d served a couple of aces earlier when in trouble – with some power, I thought. Why not more often? Is it her shoulder, with that perennial taping?

See Laura Robson got through the qualies (Watson fell unfortunately) and plays Japanese veteran Date-Krumm, who is 42, more or less. She’s a natural leftie who plays with the right hand because apparently that is more acceptable in Japan. Intriguing to watch her fh, she doesn’t follow through the way all the players do today. If Robson gets through to the 3rd round, she’s due to meet – Radwanska.

Grendel, I noticed that Laura got through to the main draw, but I didn’t know whom she’d be playing. This will be like some of Navratilova’s matches late in her career, where a player is old enough to be her opponent’s mother.

Petrova has a very powerful serve. She’s also very intelligent, and is a cut above the ‘you know’ group of WTA players. It’s a pity her game fell apart after that bungee or trampoline jumping accident some years ago.

Yes, Colin, it is an odd thought that when Laura was barely even a gleam in papa’s eye, her Japanese opponent was a seasoned pro of 23. When Laura was 2 years old, Kimiko Date Krumm retired from professional tennis. She resumed her career 12 years later.

Laura won, but mentioned that Date-Krumm was a difficult opponent ” because she hits the ball very low so you have to bend your legs a lot more than I like to.” She plays a Spaniard I’ve never heard of now, Dominguez Lino, who beat Vinci. If she can win that, an enticing battle with Radwanska looms.

Alok – I hadn’t realised Petrova had suffered serious injury. She always had huge potential which somehow didn’t pan out. I recall her giving Venus Williams (when Venus was a real force)a damn good run for her money in Paris when she was very young.She’s 30 now, one wonders whether she can still challenge the best.